Daleks in Manhattan (TV story)
Daleks in Manhattan 'is the fourth episode of the third series of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Helen Raynor, directed by James Strong and featured David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones. Overview To be added Synopsis Taking a visit to New York City in 1930, the Doctor and Martha discover a string of disappearances occurring in the derelict shantytown, Hooverville, all apparently orchestrated by a corrupt businessman. On further exploration, the Doctor and Martha discover a small force of animal-like slaves snatching people away in Manhattan's sewers. However, the slaves are only the foot-soldiers for something far worse at work beneath the city. Plots and a grand exploit only called the 'Final Experiment' are being conducted by an old and insidious enemy of the Doctor, brewing something new and infinitely more horrifying... Plot New York, 1930; a number of stage performers make ready to greet the public in their latest show. In her dressing room, Tallulah finishes making out with her boyfriend Laszlo and promises to go with him to meet his mother before she joins the other girls for the stage. After she leaves, Laszlo is drawn to a noise in the back of the theatre. Searching for the source with a match, he is jumped from the darkness by a humanoid pig creature. The following morning, the TARDIS lands at the foot of the Statue of Liberty; Martha is delighted to have arrived in the real New York, following the trip she'd taken to the version on New Earth. Taking a look at a newspaper, the Doctor takes note of a headline involving disappearances at the shantytown of Hooverville. They arrive to witness the leader Solomon diffuse a situation involving a violent altercation between two men, one of which stole bread from the other. Introducing themselves, Soloman takes them into his tent and tells them that he suspects that the missing are being taken by creatures at night. Frank sticks his head inside to inform him of the arrival of Mr. Diagoras, a local businessman offering work in the sewers for money. Knowing that the disappearance occurred in the sewers, the Doctor volunteers himself and Martha to go down, while Soloman and Frank volunteer themselves. Taking them into the tunnel, Diagoras points them in the direction of a supposed cave in and leaves; As they wander through the tunnels, they stumble across a translucent green mass of flesh. Examining it, both the Doctor and Martha acknowledge that it isn't human while the former notes the fact that they haven't found a cave in of any kind, meaning that Diagoras sent them down there for some other reason. Up above, Diagoras shows a group of foremen the blueprints for the mast of the currently incomplete Empire State Building; to their shock, he orders them to take some mysterious metal and have it bolted to the mast by that night, threatening to dismiss and replace them if they refuse. After they leave, he is interrupted by the arrival of Dalek Caan, who insist that the work on the mast must be complete for their plan to succeed. Looking out over the city below, Diagoras tells the Dalek that he plans on running New York whatever it take, at whatever cost. Observing the exchange from the basement of the building, the rest of the Cult of Skaro overhear him say this and Dalek Sec orders Caan to bring him to them. Caan escorts Diagoras to the lab concealed beneath the Empire State Building, where he tries to win favour with Sec; however, Sec declares that Diagoras is only there to be a key component in their 'final experiment' and has the pig slaves restrain him. Wanting the sewer tunnels further, the Doctor, Martha, Soloman and Frank stumble across a figure sat idle in a corner and, on examination, discover it to be a pig slave. The Doctor offers it his help when more pig slaves start wandering towards them and the Doctor orders the others to run and the mass of hybrid creatures charge after them. Racing through the tunnels, the Doctor finds a ladder to the surface and opens it, allowing them to get away. He, Martha and Soloman make it up but Frank, who temporarily remained behind to fight the slaves off before he is overwhelmed, is grabbed while climbing the ladder. Despite his best efforts, the Doctor loses his grip on him and his is taken by the slaves. Solomon seals the hatch to stop them following and while he argues with the Doctor about leaving Frank, Tallulah arrives from around the corner, revolver in hand and demands to know where Laszlo is. After she puts the gun (which she admits was just a prop) down, the Doctor promises to help find Laszlo but says that he needs first to analyse the artificial flesh he found to identify what they’re fighting. While the Doctor jury rigs a scanner for the flesh, Solomon solemnly admits that he allowed Frank to be taken out of fear before heading off back to Hooverville to warn the citizens and to defend them. In her dressing room, Tallulah tells Martha about Laszlo but confesses that she can’t raise a fuss about finding him or else she’d lose her job and by extension the payment for her rent and she’d wind up on the street. She also gets upset when she shows Martha a flower that she says was obviously left by Laszlo but obviously indicates that he doesn’t want her to see him. To distract herself, she readies herself for the show and brings Martha backstage to watch. Meanwhile, as Solomon warns his people of the coming threat, the foremen keep up work on the mast of the Empire State Building. In the Daleks’ lab below, they complete preparations for the Final Experiment and Sec orders Diagoras forth. Dalek Thay questions the experiment, citing the Daleks’ fundamental belief in purity but Sec decides it necessary for the survival of the Dalek race and, before a horrified Diagoras, reveals his true self within his casing. Diagoras desperately tries to get away and refuses to submit, but Sec encases his entire body in a sac from his own mutant form and drags him inside his casing to begin the process. At the theatre, the Doctor continues his DNA scan while the show begins with Talullah’s number ‘Put the Devil in Me’. As Martha watches the performance from the side, she spots a figure watching from the other side of the stage. She tries getting to it across the stage by hiding behind the dancers but only succeeds in disrupting the show. Above, the Doctor traces fundamental DNA type 467-989, the code assigned to life forms from only one planet: Skaro. Martha points the figure out to Talullah and she screams, causing the figure to flee. Martha chases after it while the performers retreat backstage; when the Doctor finds Talullah asking after Martha, she is ambushed in the storeroom by a pig slave and her screams attract the Doctor. Finding her gone, the Doctor follows her down the open sewer grate and Talullah, against his instruction, follows him. While she’s dragged through the tunnel, the pig slaves shove her in with a group of other captors including Frank. As the Doctor and Talullah traipse through the sewer, they duck out of sight as one of the Daleks glides past. The Doctor is both shocked and disgusted that they are still alive after everything while in the lab, Sec starts experiencing the ill effects of the experiment while his subordinates tend to the volatile reactions. Deciding it’s too dangerous for Talullah to go any further, the Doctor starts marching her back to the ladder when they run into the pig slave. The Doctor realised who it is immediately and, at Talullah’s request, steps into the light to reveal himself as Laszlo, partially converted into a pig slave but escaped before his mind was taken by the Daleks. Despite his reluctance, Laszlo agrees to take the Doctor to the lab while sending Talullah back to the surface. The Doctor and Laszlo spot the line-up of prisoners including Martha and Frank be subject to an intelligence scan; those with low intelligence are taken to be pig slaves while the rest are taken to the lab to partake in the Final Experiment. As the convoy moves off, the Doctor and Laszlo slip in at different points and follow on to the lab. When they arrive, the process on Sec is nearly completed. On the Doctor’s instruction, Martha asks about the experiment and Dalek Thay answers that they are to bear witness to the rebirth of the children of Skaro. Sec’s eyestalk suddenly goes out and his casing opens to reveal the mutated creature within, a horrifying hybrid of Dalek DNA grafted onto the body of Diagoras. As the Doctor and Martha watch on in shock and fear, the hybrid addresses the prisoners; “I... am... a human Dalek. I... am your future!” Cast * The Doctor - David Tennant * Martha Jones - Freema Agyeman * Tallulah - Miranda Raison * Laszlo - Ryan Carnes * Solomon - Hugh Quarshie * Frank - Andrew Garfield * Mr Diagoras - Eric Loren * Myrna - Flik Swan * Lois - Alexis Caley * Man #1 - Earl Perkins * Man #2 - Peter Brooke * Foreman - Ian Porter * Worker #1 - Joe Montana * Worker #2 - Stewart Alexander * Dock Worker - Mel Taylor * Dalek Operators - Barnaby Edwards, Nicholas Pegg, Anthony Spargo, David Hankinson * Dalek Voices - Nicholas Briggs * Hero Pig - Paul Kasey Crew To be added References To be added Story Notes To be added Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''Daleks in Manhattan'' page on '''Doctor Who Website